


Take Notes Sweetheart

by RedesignxRebuildxReclaim



Category: Ring of Honor, 新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hate to Love, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 09:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedesignxRebuildxReclaim/pseuds/RedesignxRebuildxReclaim
Summary: A fluff based oneshot of Tama Tonga and Original Female Character Jazmine Wolf. Tama has been a dick to Jazmine Wolf since she came to New Japan through Ring of Honor. She assumes he just hates her, but maybe there's more to the story. After a match between Suzuki-Gun and Bullet Club in the lead up to Wrestle Kingdom 13 some events may force them to rethink their feelings towards one another.





	Take Notes Sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

> Story takes place in the later months of 2018 leading up to Wrestle Kingdom 13.

Jazmine Wolf had been with Ring of Honor for only a few short months but so far she'd been enjoying every moment of it. That was, she had been, until Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling agreed that New Japan should have women incorporated into their matches and storylines in more prominent roles than as valets.

She was all for women having a stronger presence in New Japan. But there was one part of New Japan Pro Wrestling she couldn't stand. Rather, one person in New Japan Pro Wrestling she couldn't stand. Tama Tonga.

From day one he'd been an arrogant asshole. And from that first impression he'd only managed to get worse. Every time she'd have to travel to New Japan for any of the shows she knew she'd have to put up with him, and every time she was miserable just thinking about it.

She had been working closely with the Suzuki-Gun stable since New Japan started utilizing some of the female Ring of Honor wrestlers. And since Suzuki-Gun and Bullet Club had just begun a feud it only guaranteed her being around Tama even more.

Tonight they had a ppv match helping lead up to Wrestle Kingdom 13 in a few months. Her friend Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado and Minoru Suzuki were taking on Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Cody in a tag match tonight. It was scheduled to end with Brandi Rhodes interfering in the match and Jazmine running out and attacking Brandi on behalf os Suzuki-Gun.

The interference would lead to a brawl and a disqualification to end the match, where Suzuki-Gun would then take the opportunity to beat down Bullet Club and increase the bitter tension already in place between the two heel teams.

Normally she'd be excited for the match, but just the thought of having to be around Tama was enough to put her in a foul mood.

"Someone looks awfully unhappy" a familiar British accent piped up from besides her. Jazmine met the eyes of her closest friend here, Zack Sabre Jr, and forced a smile. "Just focused on the match." She lied with a passive shrug.

"What is there to focus on?" Zack laughed, "Run out and attack Brandi. You're great at that." He put an arm around her shoulders and offered her a wide grin. "What's actually bothering you?"

"Nothing. Honestly." He knew of her disdain for Tama, but she didn't need him to know just how much the dark haired Tongan actually got to her.

"Oh look Tanga, it's the Technical Wizard and Suzuki-Gun's little pet puppy dog." As if on queue Tama's familiar voice rang from down the hall followed by the laughter of his adoptive brother Tanga Loa.

"Oh good one mate." Zack gave them a thumbs up. "You know, actually I'm glad you're here while we have a quick moment to speak before the match. I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Oh yeah, what exactly have you been meaning to ask me?" Tama rolled his eyes but stopped to talk with Zack and Jazmine.

"I was just wondering how it feels being one of the most forgettable members of Bullet Club. Especially considering you were one of the original members."

Jazmine noticed the way Tama immediately stiffened and a small nervous giggle escaped her lips at the instantly tense situation. As annoying and arrogant as Tama always was, he was very rarely seen without some semblance of a cocky smirk on his lips.

Right now, his lips were set into a hard line and she could see the anger pulsing clear in his eyes.

"Is that funny to you?" Tama focused his anger on her rather than Zack. His dark eyes met hers and neither one broke contact. "It's not gonna be so funny when I beat the fuck out of your skinny dickhead boyfriend out there in the ring."

Tama turned his attention back to Zack who was still grinning, not even bothering to hide his amusement at Tama's expense. "You think you're real slick huh?"

"Slicker than you." Zack shot back. If anyone could match Tama's cockiness it was Zack.

Most of the time he was the sweetest person Jazmine had ever met. But when he slipped into character and wanted to be an conceited asshole he was damn good at it.

"You may be able to slip your way out of a lot of tricky situations out there. But you ain't slipping out of getting your fucking ass beat tonight boy. Just wait til' it's me and you in that ring." Cody and Brandi had come up behind Tama and Tanga as the exchange started and were watching with what appeared to be curious amusement.

"Both of you knock it off." Jazmine finally spoke up, pushing Zack's arm away from around her shoulders. "You know damn well you're not going to hurt each other out there. Act like professionals for fucks sake."

"Nah, being professional needs to take a back seat sometimes when someone thinks they're tougher than they really are." Tama hadn't broken eye contact with Zack since the two locked eyes. Finally he turned his attention back to Jazmine.

"Take notes Sweetheart" Tama pointed a finger in her face then at Zack. "Tonight you're going to see how your little submissions master boyfriend gets shut the fuck down and shut the fuck up finally."

Jazmine held his eye contact, refusing to look weak and break eye contact first. "Grow up Tama." She scowled back. "He's not my god damn boyfriend and he was joking around. Grow the fuck up."

"See you out there." Tama sneered and stormed off towards the entrance ramp. "Tama wait up man." Tanga gave Zack a dirty look and hurried after his brother, Cody hot on his heels already.

"I need to go find Despy." Zack spoke as he glanced down the opposite end of the hallway. "Good luck out there. See you soon enough." Zack ruffled Jazmine's hair and waved to Brandi, who was still lingering. "Yeah, try not to get killed by Tama out there you idiot." Jazmine yelled after him.

"What the hell was that about?" Brandi asked Jazmine once the boys were out of earshot. Jazmine sighed and shook her head. "That was a pissing contest between Tama and Zack." Jazmine rolled her eyes. "Why they're _both_ being such dicks tonight beats the fuck out of me."

"What did Zack say to pissed Tama off so badly? I almost never see him that angry." Brandi glanced down the hall to where the other Bullet Club boys had disappeared and checked the time on her cell phone.

"He asked him how it felt to be the most forgettable members of the Bullet Club." Jazmine sighed as she repeated what Zack had said.

As much as she hated Tama even she thought it was a low blow. Arrogant dickhead or not, Tama was one of the founders of the Bullet Club and he was extremely talented. Zack had hit below the belt on a sore subject she knew had been brewing between the Bullet Club members for a while now.

"Jesus." Brandi replied, her eyes widening. "No wonder he was so pissed off. That's a real low blow. Especially to say in front of you."

"What? Why would it matter if he said it in front of me or not?" Jazmine's brows furrowed in confusion at Brandi's response.

"Jazy... seriously?" Brandi looked disappointed as she took in Jazmine's expression. "You're kidding right?"

"Kidding about what? Why would it matter if I was here or not? I don't get it."

"Because it's already a low blow but Tama's gotta be extra pissed that Zack would say something like that in front of you." Brandi sighed as Jazmine's face no doubt still read painfully blank. "Jazy... that boy has a huge fucking crush on you."

Jazmine's eyes grew wide before she burst into loud laughter. "Brandi, no no no." Jazmine shook her head at her friend. "Tama and I _hate_ each other. He's acted like a total asshole to me since day one. If anything my presence just set him off more because he clearly already hates being around me."

"Good lord, you're oblivious." Brandi laughed. She hid her face in her hands for a moment before laughing all over again at Jazmine. "It's just how he acts because he's a moron and doesn't know how to talk to you. It's like a kindergarten crush. He's mean to you because he wants you."

"There's literally no way." Jazmine argued, shaking her head once again in protest.

"Brandi! We've gotta go." Cody's voice rang from far down the hall.

"I've gotta go, I need to walk out with Cody and the boys." Brandi waved and hurried towards the entrance ramp. "See you out there."

"See you out there." Jazmine replied as her friend disappeared from view. She watched as Zack, Suzuki and Desperado rounded the corner and made their way to the ramp for their own entrance.

"Good luck out there guys." she smiled at them as they passed and shook her head at Zack as he winked at her. "Try not to get killed Zack."

"Well there's no fun in that is there." He shot back over his shoulder. "See you when you get out there. Give Brandi hell." Jazmine ignored his comment and tried to focus her attention back to the match at hand.

She stretched, taking deep breaths in and out, trying to center herself again. Brandi was insane. There was no way Tama had a secret crush on her. They couldn't even stand to be around each other for more than a few minutes before they'd start arguing.

_Kindergarten crush my ass._

Jazmine shook her head and decided to walk over to the ramp so she could watch the monitors and wait for her queue.

The match was a good one. Tama definitely did seem to lay a bit more of a beat down into Zack, but nothing he didn't deserve and couldn't handle. As rude and awful as Tama could be backstage she knew he'd never be an unsafe worker to anyone. When she saw Brandi hop up onto the apron she waited for her begin distracting the ref and ran out.

Tama and Tanga took the distraction as an opportunity to lay in an extra beating on El Desperado to get him off of Cody while Red Shoes had his back turned and focused on Brandi.

Jazmine ran up and swept Brandi's ankles backwards, sending the gorgeous brunette face first onto the apron like they'd practiced. Once Brandi was on the ground, holding her face in pain, Jazmine hopped up onto the apron, ignoring the cries of Red Shoes as she did a moonsault off the apron onto Brandi.

From there the match was the pure chaos they had planned. Cody hopped out and got a chair from the audience and hurled it at Suzuki who dodged it, leaving it laying in the ring as he went after Cody on the outside.

Red shoes called the match and Suzuki-Gun began to really lay in the beating on the Bullet Club boys while Brandi and Jazmine continued to attack each other on the outside.

El Desperado sent Tama flying out of the ring where he landed with exaggerated pain and held his lower back. With Tama out of the ring the three Suzuki-Gun boys went to work on beating down Cody and Tanga, who were quickly overpowered three to one.

Jazmine pushed Brandi into the announce table and allowed her focus to slip from the action in the ring for a second as Red Shoes flailed at her in a panic, yelling at her to leave Brandi alone no doubt.

Her lack of attention to the ring action was long enough for her to miss that Suzuki had thrown the chair from before down onto the ring in anger, where it had hit with enough force off the corner of the chair to bounce and come straight for her out of the ring. She noticed it just as Tama quickly stepped in front of her and took the steel frame of the chair directly to the face.

She knew better than to break kayfabe and hurry to check on him but she felt her jaw drop open as Tama swore loudly and clutched his face, dropping to his knees as blood flowed from his nose into his hands and onto the floor.

The commentators were all yelling loudlyas they described the chaos and thankfully Suzuki-Gun finished up their post match attack on Bullet Club and with Jazmine in tow headed backstage.

"Holy shit" Jazmine ran to the nearest monitor. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she felt vaguely nauseous as her stomach clenched with guilt. "Is he okay?" she zeroed in on Tama who was being helped up by Red Shoes as the other battered Bullet Club boys and Brandi made their way to the back.

Tama had blood stained down his face and onto his bare chest from his nose and was holding a rag a young lion had brought him to his nose as he most likely attempted to apply pressure and slow the bleeding.

"Damn" Zack had snuck up behind her in her focus on the monitor. "He really took a fuckin' chair to the face for you. He's dumber than I thought."

"Zack" Jazmine scolded him. She shot him a sharp glare and he held his hands up in surrender, "Sorry, I didn't mean I wanted you to get hit. I'm just surprised. I mean, he likes you and all but... damn. He might have a broken nose."

"This is _so_ not important right now, but he does not like me. I don't know what's wrong with you and Brandi. But you both need your heads checked."

"Are you dense?" Zack raised an eyebrow at her as he regarded her. "Tama is _definitely_ into you. It's why I give him a hard time when he's around you. And it's most definitely why he just took a god damn steel chair to the face so you didn't get hit by it."

"Bullshit. He's always been an asshole to me. He did it out of instinct probably because I'm dumb and didn't pay attention for a second. He's probably gonna come back here and yell at me for being a fucking idiot any second."

"Yeah, if you say so Jaz." Zack rolled his eyes at her and glanced over at the ramp entrance as the other guys came through. Cody checked on Brandi once they were out of sight of the cameras and Tanga replaced Red Shoes in holding up his brother.

Jazmine knew she should probably just back off and stay away from Tama but she felt too horrible to do it. She needed to apologize to him right away so he didn't think she was even more of an asshole than she already seemed like.

She felt horrible that her lack of focus had led to him getting hurt. It was one thing if he just hated her as a person. It was an entirely different thing for him to think she was an unsafe worker and then think she was rude and didn't care about it on top of that.

"Are you okay?" Jazmine's stomach seemed to be permanently in a nervous knot as she hurried over to Tama.

Tama had been tilting his head up to help stop the bleeding and he looked back down to meet Jazmine's eyes. "Yeah man, I'm doing great. Thanks for asking." He gave her a weak thumbs up with his free hand.

The answer was sarcastic, but less hostile than she'd honestly been expecting. "I'm so sorry Tama." she could hear the desperation in her own voice. She needed him to believe she was genuinely sorry. She'd never want anyone to get hurt, even the person who annoyed her more than anyone.

"You don't need to be sorry Jazmine." Tama was surprisingly gentle as he met her eyes. "It wasn't your fault. It was just a freak thing that happened. I saw it happen and I just didn't want you to get hit by it."

"I should have been paying attention..." she tried again to apologize but Tama cut her off. "-It was a freak thing Jazmine. It wasn't your damn fault."

"He needs to get to the doctor so they can check him out." Tanga interrupted them, "Don't worry about it Jazmine. No one is blaming you."

She knew better than to continue arguing and backed off so that Tanga could get Tama to the New Japan doctors to be checked out.

"So?" Zack was leaning on the wall waiting for her to come back over by him. "So what?" She asked dejectedly. "He didn't look like he yelled at you like you were saying he would."

"He said it wasn't my fault."

"It wasn't. Sometimes things just happen. We all work in a dangerous business where sometimes freak accidents just happen. He'll be alright."

"It _was_ my fault though. I focused on Red Shoes instead of what was going on in the ring and didn't see the chair until the last second when Tama stepped in and took the hit instead."

"You realize there's every chance you could have been focused and still not been able to get out of the way in time. You're just lucky Tama had already gotten to his feet and was right there to save your pretty face with his own."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Jazy, if you don't stop beating yourself up over this I'm gonna wring your neck." Zack warned her, his tone of voice more stern. "You didn't do anything wrong. It just happened."

"Sorry, I just can't help but feel somewhat guilty. He should have just let it hit me."

"Look..." Zack used his long legs to easily step around her and effectively stop her from walking. "Not only did he get an awesome spot out of it where he comes off looking like a fucking badass for taking a chair to the face. He also looks like a hero to the girl he has a not so secret crush on. Tama will be okay."

"Do you seriously think he has a crush on me Zack? I mean, come on... you've seen how he acts around me. Who's dense now?"

"Still you babe" Zack countered. She noticed the small smirk of amusement on his lips and crossed her arms over her chest. "Put it this way. You're like a sister to me, you're honestly one of my best friends, and if I had been on the floor with you I would not have flung my beautiful face in the line of fire for you."

Zack laughed loudly at the annoyed look she gave him. "My hero." She replied with a sigh.

"It's true though. He bullies you because he's into you. He's just an idiot when it comes to expressing that. And you get annoyed and hate him right back because he's gorgeous and funny and you want to like him but he's such a dick all the time."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You just know I'm right."

"I need to head to the locker room. I need to do something. Can you do me a favor when I text you?"

Zack studied her and hesitantly agreed to help her out. "Do I get to know what favor I'm agreeing to do right now?"

"No, but it's nothing hard or embarrassing."

"Whatever. Fair enough." Zack agreed. "Text me when you need me. I'm gonna go shower."

Jazmine said her goodbyes to Zack for now and hurried to the women's locker room. She knew exactly what she needed to do to clear up the whole situation. She pulled out her duffel bag and rooted around through it until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the small notebook she always kept in her gym bag in case she ever got ideas for new shirts or for jotting down anything else that popped into her head.

Pulling the pen she had tucked into it out she opened to a clean page. She scribbled out a quick list and read over it one more time.

She texted Zack to meet her outside of the men's locker room and ignored the pit in her stomach that gave her cause to think maybe this was something she shouldn't be doing.

No. She knew that she needed to do it. She knew in her gut that Zack and Brandi had to be right. If she was being honest with herself, she had known Brandi was right as soon as Tama dove in front of the chair and stopped her from getting hit. It was a split second thing and he reacted instantly to keep her from getting hurt.

"Okay what am I doing?" Zack asked as she met him near the men's locker room area. "Is Tama back in there yet?" She had purposely taken her time in the hopes that he'd be back and hopefully be ruled as okay.

"Yeah, him and Tanga just got back from meeting with the doctor."

"Is he okay?"

"Seriously Jazy? Should I just go get him so you can ask him? I haven't had a chance to talk to him and ask yet. You texted me to meet you out here."

"Okay, sorry." Jazmine frowned at Zack. "Just... can you slip this note onto his stuff so he sees it?"

"You want me to pass a note from you to Tama like we're in the third grade?"

"Yes, Zack. That's exactly what I want." she shot back sarcastically. "Can you just do it please? And don't read it or I'll kill you."

"That just makes me want to read it more." Zack complained. He pouted at her as he accepted the note and stuffed it in his hoodie's pocket.

"Seriously Zack, please don't read it. Just do me a favor and don't be a pain in my ass. Just this one time."

"Yeah, yeah. I 'll put it on top of his bag when he's not looking and I won't read it."

"Thank you Zack" Jazmine stood on her tip toes to give Zack a proper hug. "I appreciate it."

"No problem. But you're the only one I'm doing this lame third grade shit for. So don't tell anyone else."

"Promise" She made a gesture like she crossed her heart. Zack raised his pinky and she hooked her pinky with his, the two of them laughing. "You're the best Zack." Zack smiled but ignored her and headed back into the men's locker room.

She had taken Tama's suggestion to take notes earlier and literally done it. Now she just needed Zack to deliver her note that read as follows:

**_Notes from Suzuki-Gun vs Bullet Club match tonight-_ **

**_1\. You didn't beat Zack up as badly as you could have which shows you're professional even when you pretend you're not going to be. And even when he (maybe) deserves a bit of a throttling. That's a good thing._ **

**_2\. I've been (possibly) reliably informed you have a crush on me? This seems highly unlikely considering how much of a dick you always are._ **

**_3\. If you do in fact have a crush on me I'd like to inform you that girls typically don't respond well to when you treat them like garbage. You may want to try a different approach next time you like someone._ **

**_4\. You dove in front of a chair so I wouldn't get hurt. This was actually really badass and sweet of you. Very out of character. Also very much appreciated._ **

**_5\. Apparently being hot as fuck doesn't make you good with girls. I'm more shocked by this than I possibly should be. But wow, you are exceptionally bad with girls Tama. How?_ **

**_6\. I'm willing to start over if you're willing to act more like the guy that dove in front of a chair for me and less like the guy that's been picking fights with me and being a general dickhead to me for months._ **

**_I hope your nose isn't broken,_ **

**_Jaz_ **

 

 

Jazmine showered and tried to push away the thought that she'd just written what was possibly an extremely embarrassing letter to someone who could most definitely use it to make her miserable if Zack and Brandi ended up being wrong.

She changed into her yoga pants and tank top, throwing a black and white SPLX hoodie over the tank top, and figured she'd go try to find Zack again. Maybe he'd want to head out and get some dinner before they headed back to the hotel. She was too wrapped up in texting Zack to notice someone waiting across the hall.

"So... you think I'm hot as fuck huh?" Jazmine's head snapped up at Tama's voice. He had been leaning against the wall waiting for her. She noticed the white tape over the swollen bridge of his nose immediately and then took in that he was already bruising, a deep purple spreading to both of his under eyes.

She knew it was wrong to laugh at him right now, but the juxtaposition of the question with how fucked up his nose looked was too much for her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh." She tried to compose herself and Tama ended up laughing as well before cringing in pain.

"Yeah, I guess I probably don't look so hot right now." He admitted with a small smile.

"Is your nose broken?" She asked gently as she managed to pull herself together and look like less of an asshole.

"Oh yeah, but I'll be okay." Tama replied with a shrug. "I've had worse injuries. I can't wrestle for a little bit, but I'll be cleared again before Wrestle Kingdom."

"I honestly still can't believe you did that."

"It was a split second reaction kind of a thing. I saw it and just... I just didn't want you to have to take that hit." Tama hesitated and let out a deep breath.

"Look, you're right. I'm fuckin' terrible at handling having feelings for anyone. Honestly I assumed you and Zack had a thing so I acted like a dick to just keep you away and not have to think about having a crush on you. But instead you always just fed into it and fought with me all the time. So I continued to act like a dick."

"So you _do_ have a crush on me." Jazmine had known in her gut that her friends had to be right after Zack had broken it down for her. But it was still so weird to hear him admitting it.

"Yeah. Of course I do. Why else would I act like such a fucking idiot around you?"

"You _are_ an idiot." Jazmine agreed, "I thought you hated me. I hated _you_ solely because you were always making me so god damn miserable."

"Yeah that's my bad." Tama laughed and winced in pain again. "Brandi said I was acting like a child. I just couldn't help it. It's like my defense mechanism."

"I repeat... idiot." Jazmine laughed. "That's not the way to go about it. At all."

"That's what I was told in your note. I'll try to remember that." Tama nodded. "Your note also said maybe we could start over."

"Yeah, it did." She nodded, biting her lip nervously as she glanced down at her feet.

"Well... if you're willing to stand by that. I was thinking maybe I could start out by taking you out, like, on a proper date. I, uh, I'll be having some down time for a while since I can't wrestle after all."

"Super smooth." Jazmine couldn't help the wide smile that played at her lips as she met his gaze. "When will this date be happening?"

"Not tonight" Tama pointed to his face "You'll have to excuse me. But I feel like I just took a shot to the face from a steel chair so I need to go take some pain killers and get some sleep tonight."

"I can't imagine why you'd feel like that."

"Beats me." Tama agreed, visibly holding back a smile so he wouldn't be in more pain. "Alright, you're making me laugh and it hurts so I need to go. But when do you leave Japan and head back to the states?"

"Tuesday next week."

"Okay, well Thursday night don't make plans. I'm going to take advice from a note I got and try to take you out on a nice date. I've been informed girls react better to that than being teased constantly."

"I've also heard that before. You know, just through the grape vine."

"Yeah I'm sure." Tama smirked and ran a hand through his dark curly hair. "Thursday. I'll pick you up at seven."

"I look forward to it." Jazmine hesitated as she turned to go find Zack. Turning back around she surprised Tama and slowly and carefully stood on her tip toes and pressed a gentle, quick kiss against his lips. "Thank you for taking a steel chair to the face for me."

When she stepped backwards again she could see the smile he was holding in, his dark eyes locked on her as she turned to leave. "See you Thursday." She called over her shoulder, leaving him to watch her walk away as she went to find Zack and share what had just happened.


End file.
